Darwin's Worms: On Life Stories and Death Stories Contributor(s): Phillips, Adam (Author) |
|
ISBN: 0465056768 ISBN-13: 9780465056767 Publisher: Basic Books OUR PRICE: $18.99 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: February 2001 Annotation: Adam Phillips has been called "the psychotherapist of the floating world" and "the closest thing we have to a philosopher of happiness". His style is epigrammatic; his intelligence, electric. His new book, Darwin's Worms, uses the biographical details of Darwin's and Freud's lives to examine endings -- suffering, mortality, extinction, and death. Both Freud and Darwin were interested in how destruction conserves life. They took their inspiration from fossils or from half-remembered dreams. Each told a story that has altered our perception of our lives. For Darwin, Phillips explains, "the story to tell was how species can drift towards extinction; for Freud, the story was how the individual tended to, and tended towards his own death". In each case, it is a death story that uniquely illuminates the life story. |
Additional Information |
BISAC Categories: - Science | Philosophy & Social Aspects - Psychology | Movements - Psychoanalysis - Science | Life Sciences - Evolution |
Dewey: 128 |
LCCN: 99088832 |
Lexile Measure: 1220 |
Physical Information: 0.41" H x 5.24" W x 8.01" (0.38 lbs) 160 pages |
Themes: - Chronological Period - 19th Century - Chronological Period - 20th Century |
Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
Publisher Description: Adam Phillips has been called the psychotherapist of the floating world and the closest thing we have to a philosopher of happiness. His style is epigrammatic; his intelligence, electric. His new book, Darwin's Worms, uses the biographical details of Darwin's and Freud's lives to examine endings-suffering, mortality, extinction, and death. Both Freud and Darwin were interested in how destruction conserves life. They took their inspiration from fossils or from half-remembered dreams. Each told a story that has altered our perception of our lives. For Darwin, Phillips explains, the story to tell was how species can drift towards extinction; for Freud, the story was how the individual tended to, and tended towards his own death. In each case, it is a death story that uniquely illuminates the life story. |